"So the Takigakure was hidden here all along? Tch, talk about being well-concealed."
After watching the group disappear, the silver-haired young man with purple-red eyes, one of the two Akatsuki members clad in red cloud robes, clicked his tongue.
"Hey, Kakuzu, wasn't it you who defected from the Takigakure?" the silver-haired man teased, turning to his companion who was silently flipping through what looked like a bounty roster. "Kakuzu, this place actually looks pretty decent. Let me sacrifice everyone here to Lord Evil God later, heh heh heh..."
"Don't do anything unnecessary, Hidan," Kakuzu replied without looking up.
"It's not unnecessary! Sacrifices to Lord Evil God are sacred, you bastard!" Hidan retorted loudly, brandishing his weapon.
'Idiot!' Kakuzu snorted inwardly, refusing to argue with the fool.
Hidan was notoriously verbose and fanatically devoted to his so-called sacrifices, complete with elaborate and tedious rituals. If Kakuzu engaged him in debate, it would never end.
Kakuzu's silence only piqued Hidan's interest. He leaned closer, grinning widely. "Kakuzu, you old grump! Did returning to your hometown stir up some fond memories, making you hesitant to strike here? Heh heh..."
"If that's the case, just leave it to me. I'll let Lord Evil God's benevolent light descend upon this place."
"There's nothing here worth remembering," Kakuzu replied, never lifting his gaze from the bounty roster in his hands.
His demeanor betrayed no hint of a traveler returning home after decades away; the sight of his homeland stirred no ripple in his heart.
Far more important to him were the names on the roster and the long strings of numbers beside each one.
"Our mission from Akatsuki is simply to ensure those rebels succeed in their coup against Takigakure. We don't need to show ourselves until the final moment," Kakuzu explained flatly, glancing briefly at Hidan before continuing in the same monotone, "Of course, if you insist on doing what you want, disobeying the leader's orders, I won't stop you. Go ahead and do as you please."
"Of course I know that," Hidan snapped, tugging at his silver hair in frustration. "If I disobey the Akatsuki's orders, I'll be expelled. If I'm expelled, they'll hunt me down. And if they hunt me down, then I'll—"
Hidan began counting on his fingers, muttering to himself.
Suddenly, his eyes widened in horror. "Then I won't have time to perform sacred rituals for Lord Evil God!"
"I guess I'll have to endure this for a while, Lord Evil God. I promise to offer you even more sacrifices in the future."
With that, Hidan abruptly dropped to his knees, praying loudly while performing strange, ritualistic gestures.
'Idiot!' Kakuzu cursed inwardly, turning away to ignore the fool.
"Oh, right, Kakuzu," Hidan said after a moment, his prayer finished. "I heard there's this stuff in Takigakure called Hero's Water that can multiply your Chakra by dozens of times. Is it true? Have you ever tried it?"
'Hero's Water?'
'Now you've got my attention.'
Hearing this, Kakuzu's ears twitched slightly.
He finally closed the roster in his hands, lifted his head, and spoke in a deep voice, his expression a mixture of reminiscence, melancholy, and admiration: "Back in the day, Senju Hashirama, whom the world revered as the God of Shinobi, suffered a narrow defeat at my hands. Though his power was formidable even then..."
"Hey, hey, hey! Kakuzu, you old geezer! I'm asking about the Hero's Water, not some ancient beef between you and the First Hokage!" Hidan exclaimed, interrupting Kakuzu with a sudden realization, his face twisted in annoyance.
Just as Kakuzu loathed Hidan's incessant yammering, his tedious rambling, and his drawn-out, convoluted cult rituals, Hidan equally detested Kakuzu's habit of constantly dredging up tales of his battle against the First Hokage.
"Hmph!" Kakuzu snorted coldly.
His clash with the First Hokage was a point of pride he never hesitated to flaunt to anyone who would listen.
Hidan's abrupt interruption naturally irked him.
Just as he was about to retort, Hidan suddenly seemed to recall something, his voice tinged with suspicion as he asked, "Wait a minute... last time you told this story, you said your fight with the First Hokage ended in a draw, right? How did it suddenly become a 'narrow defeat at your hands'?"
'From "I once fought the First Hokage!"'
'To "I fought the First Hokage to a draw!"'
'And now, "The First Hokage narrowly lost to me!"'
'How does this guy's story keep changing?'
'It's getting more and more exaggerated and unbelievable.'
Hearing this, Kakuzu's face tightened, and he fell silent for a moment.
After a pause, he mumbled, "That happened decades ago. After all this time, it's only natural I'd forget some details."
"So it's just dementia kicking in, huh? Tsk." Hidan muttered, his voice barely audible but perfectly clear to Kakuzu's ears.
"Idiot!" Kakuzu cursed, his expression hidden behind his mask but likely quite amusing.
Hidan's banter had completely ruined his mood for reminiscing about past glories.
Undeterred, Hidan leaned closer, grinning mischievously. "Hey, Kakuzu, stop being so mysterious! Just tell me about this Hero's Water already!"
After a moment of deliberation, Kakuzu finally spoke, "Hero's Water does indeed amplify a person's Chakra. The extent of this amplification varies from person to person."
"The rumors are true after all," Hidan muttered, his eyes gleaming. "Looks like this stuff's good. I can use it as an offering to Lord Evil God someday."
Kakuzu glanced at him before continuing, "Every gain comes with a price. Hero's Water is double-edged. The cost of gaining Chakra is that it devours the user's lifespan and corrodes their body afterward."
"So you're saying drinking this stuff could kill you, right?" Hidan laughed heartily, licking his lips. "I've never died before. I'm dying to see what death feels like, heh heh."
"Hey Kakuzu, have you ever drunk Hero's Water? What's it like?"
"You talk too much, Hidan."
Kakuzu's gaze darkened considerably, his voice turning colder than before. Hidan's question had clearly stirred up some unpleasant memories.
"Judging by that look, I don't even need you to say it—you definitely drank Hero's Water before." Hidan remained unfazed by Kakuzu's increasingly frosty aura, his carefree demeanor unchanged.
"Hmph!" Kakuzu snorted coldly but didn't deny the truth, tacitly acknowledging it.
Hero's Water earned its heroic name because it was originally given to heroes willing to sacrifice their lives for their village.
Kakuzu, who once considered Takigakure his everything, naturally fell within this category.
Years ago, as one of Takigakure's top Jonin, he was assigned to assassinate Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi at the time.
The village's leaders bestowed upon him the Hero's Water for this mission.
In that desperate battle, Kakuzu risked his life, consuming all the Hero's Water he possessed, but even then, he proved no match for the God of Shinobi.
Moved by Kakuzu's unwavering devotion to his village, Senju Hashirama ultimately spared his life, choosing to let him go.
After surviving the Hero's Water, Kakuzu returned to the village, only to be met with disgrace for his mission's failure and severe punishment.
For a man who had dedicated half his life to the village, this treatment was both incomprehensible and cruelly unjust.
At the time, Kakuzu couldn't understand why he was treated this way. Now, however, he understood perfectly.
Back then, his influence had grown so immense that it threatened the village leaders' authority. Moreover, the Hero's Water had ravaged his body, particularly his heart.
After all, Hero's Water inevitably backfires on the user's body, and the heart, as the body's life pump and vital engine, is the first organ to suffer the backlash.
Though Kakuzu's immense strength prevented him from dying outright, he developed heart failure, labored breathing, and a host of other physical ailments.
It was no exaggeration to say he was clinging to life by a thread.
In this weakened state, he naturally lost all value to the Takigakure's leaders.
What they hadn't anticipated was that Kakuzu would endure.
Not only did he survive his imprisonment, but fueled by burning hatred, he transformed into a vengeful demon.
He seized their healthy yet tainted hearts while stealing the village's forbidden technique—
The Earth Grudge Fear Technique!
This secret art allowed one to replace their own failing heart with another's healthy one, replenishing their life force and prolonging their lifespan.
Even before the Takigakure modeled itself after Konoha to establish a shinobi village, their ancestors had been studying Hero's Water for centuries, thoroughly understanding its benefits and devastating consequences.
The Earth Grudge Technique, a secret art, was born in response to the Hero's Water.
After a moment of silent contemplation, Kakuzu suddenly stood up abruptly, startling Hidan slightly.
Hidan nonchalantly remarked, "Did I hit a nerve? Are you going to kill me to silence me? Seriously? Besides, you're—"
Kakuzu merely glanced at him dismissively before turning and walking away.
"Hey, Kakuzu! Where are you going, you old geezer? That's not the way to Takigakure! You're going the wrong way!" Hidan shouted anxiously, momentarily stunned.
'Could Kakuzu's dementia be getting worse?' he wondered. 'He can't even remember which way to go anymore!'
Hidan hurriedly caught up with Kakuzu, falling into step beside him.
He was about to ask what was wrong when he noticed Kakuzu's intense focus on the bounty registry in his hand.
"Seriously? You're going to the Bounty Exchange now? The Boss specifically ordered us not to do anything else during the mission."
Hidan was now repeating the very words Kakuzu had used to scold him earlier.
Kakuzu's gaze flickered slightly, but he maintained his composure and offered a casual explanation: "We don't need to act yet. We might as well check the Bounty Exchange while we have the time. Of course, you can stay here and space out if you prefer."
'That spendthrift woman would be ecstatic if she knew I was so eager to visit the Bounty Exchange.'
___
The sun shone brightly, and a gentle breeze rustled through the air.
Northwestern border of the Land of Fire, deep within a dense forest.
My name is Haruno Sakura, a sixty-first-generation graduate of Konoha's ninja academy and a member of Team Seven.
Right now, Team Seven, led by Teacher Kakashi, is undertaking our fourth C-rank mission in the past half-month.
Our mission is to protect Shibuki-kun, the young leader of Takigakure, as he returns to his village.
I heard his father was the previous leader—a highly respected and powerful figure known throughout the Land of Waterfall.
Even though C-rank missions aren't supposed to involve enemy ninja, I still feel a bit uneasy.
Sakura walked slowly, her expression calm and casual, but her heart was filled with vigilance.
Her body was tense, and her eyes subtly scanned her surroundings.
'Is this guy really the leader of Takigakure? He doesn't look reliable at all.'
Sakura glanced out of the corner of her eye at the black-haired youth hiding behind them, constantly darting his eyes around with an anxious expression.
'Takigakure may not be one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but it's still a hidden village with some tradition and strength. Is this the leader they chose?'
'Could it be a hereditary succession?'
Sakura mentally scoffed.
She thought she was already being cautious and tense enough, but this young leader of Takigakure seemed even more nervous than she was.
Although the leader of Takigakure didn't qualify for the title of "Kage," they were still the leader of a village and the military head of a nation.
In Konoha terms, their position was equivalent to that of the Hokage.
The title of Hokage held a special, revered significance in Sakura's heart.
After all, she had always secretly considered herself the heir to the Hokage's legacy, and she simply couldn't imagine a village leader acting so timid and subservient.
'And even though this guy seems completely unreliable, he's still the leader of a Hidden Village. Why does he need Team Seven to escort him back? Where are his Anbu? What about his village's leader's guard unit?'
This realization only deepened her growing unease.
Although Shibuki appeared even weaker than an ordinary person, he was far from ordinary. In fact, his personal strength was quite impressive.
Their group had set out only yesterday morning and had already reached the northwestern border of the Land of Fire by today.
Once they crossed this forest, they would be on the territory of the Land of Waterfall.
From there, a few more hours of travel would bring them to the Takigakure in the heart of the Land of Waterfall.
Just when she had finally fixed her computer, the internet went out, making uploading a real pain.
___
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